


Talus Vakarian: Dad in Law

by Seagoatink



Series: Survival Isn't Pretty [15]
Category: Mass Effect
Genre: Comfort, F/M, Fluff, Silly
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-09
Updated: 2016-11-09
Packaged: 2018-08-30 01:34:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,761
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8513638
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Seagoatink/pseuds/Seagoatink
Summary: Nothing but danger would come from trying to pry a better answer from him. So she settled for something less threatening. “I have a high score to beat at the Armax Arena,” Cheska informed him, knowing full well that guns were the best way to calm nerves.“That sounds a lot better than what I had in mind,” Talus admitted.





	

Turian hands were strange, feet too, but Shepard was more focused on the hands she was holding on to. Garrus had already said his goodbyes to his father at the docking bay. Talus was currently saying goodbye to Solana himself, to give the couple their alone time.

The night before they had discussed many things while in their underwear, eating takeout on the bed. Garrus was worried, as Cheska expected him to be. Even though it felt like it at the time, they hadn’t fought the reaper threat alone. The Vakarians had their fair share of PTSD too.

Solana was joining him on his trip to Palaven, but their father, Talus, was staying on the Citadel to continue his work at C-Sec. His children naturally had a very parental response and ended up coddling the man.

Much to Shepard’s dismay, Solana had a list written in Turian Standard that she pinned to the commander’s Reminders Corkboard with Talus’s favorite foods from all his favorite restaurants. Garrus had forwarded his father’s work schedule, in case he didn’t come home at the right time. They also put together a list of his favorite bars, drinks, and bartenders, just in case Shepard felt he needed to enjoy himself a little more.

They were overbearing to say the least.

When Garrus leaned down to touch his forehead to Cheska’s, she knew what he was going to say. “Please take care of him for us.” Those words made the commander chuckle. She was sure her crew had said the same of her to her away team more times than she could count, but it was endearing nevertheless.

“I will, but remember: he’s an adult, Garrus,” replied Cheska as she smiled up at him. Garrus sighed, and she kissed him. “You don’t have to worry so much, dear. We’re at the Citadel… And I’m Commander Shepard.”

“Yes, you’re my indestructible tech guru and I love you,” Garrus said, “but that doesn’t mean I’m not allowed to worry.”

Cheska pulled him in for a hug. He needed to board the shuttle with his sister soon. “I love you too. Be safe on Palaven.”

He returned her hug. “I’ll try to vid call tonight,” he said, before releasing her.

They returned to Talus and Solana. Shepard joined the older turian near the windows, so they could watch the transport shuttle take off together. His kids, Solana and Garrus, had one hand in politics and the other in combat. Neither were surprised when they were called back to Palaven to help direct relief efforts and rebuilding programs.

Shepard kept the thought in her mind as she watched the shuttle leave Citadel docks for the void of space with a smile on her face. She was proud to call Garrus her boyfriend. At the same time, she was happy she had become such good friends with Solana. The two were wonderful to her, each in their own way.

When their shuttle left view, she stepped back from the large, glass viewing area and sighed. 

Talus stayed put. His hands rested on the rail, as did the rest of his body weight, based on his posture. “You’re happy to see them off, Commander?” Talus asked. His voice was higher than Garrus’s and cleaner, less gravely sounding. Maybe it was because his subharmonics sounded closer to his voice.

“They’re doing good work,” she replied. “I’m proud of them, both of them.”

“I’m proud of them too,” Talus admitted, though he would never do so with his children present. He was quiet, thinking to himself. “Garrus told me you don’t have kids… And weren’t planning any either.”

Cheska couldn’t get a read on where he stood on the matter. Garrus only joked about it once or twice, and stopped after he realized where she stood. “No.” The military, her career, that was her family, and the Vakarians of course. But children? “No, I have my crew,” she replied, this time with certainty.

They were her pride and joy, as she assumed she had been to Anderson outside of events following Mindoir. She watched them grow and helped them learn. Ashley became a Spectre, though that wasn’t Shepard’s doing, it did make her proud. The woman never faltered.

“You feel for them as you would your own children?” Talus asked, tearing his gaze from the window to watch Cheska as she answered.

If he was getting to a point, she had no idea what it was. “I don’t have children in the way that you do,” the commander replied. “But I’ve watched them grow as people. I’ve bonded with them over our shared experiences. The line between friend and family is blurred for me, but I’d like to think they consider me family too.”

The turian left the window with one last glance behind him before walking away. “What did Solana and Garrus plan?” He asked, walking toward the shopping district as if it would tell him the answers he was looking for.

Turian legs were long, even compared to most humans. Talus’s strides were longer than his sons, in part because he was taller. However, he seemed to be in a mood today too. Cheska, who was shorter than the average human woman, had to hurriedly skitter across the floor to keep up. “They didn’t actually plan out anything,” she said. “They did give me your work schedule and a very detailed list of your favorite foods and where to find them.”

The man stopped abruptly.

Cheska nearly ran face first into him, but caught herself. “Is something wrong?” She wondered.

“No, I was just expecting them to-”

“They wanted to,” Cheska interrupted him, even though she knew that was not the best choice she could have made. Maybe Talus liked being on a set schedule someone else made for him Garrus always pointed out how he wasn’t like most turians. His father seemed to be closer to the ideal turian at the very least.

Talus hailed a cab and left her at the docking bay.

Shepard returned to her large, empty apartment knowing she could have done better.

Garrus called her as she was making chicken crepes for herself. There would be plenty left over for her to enjoy throughout the week. “Hi, babe,” she said softly. Her voice was hollow, void of thought. That told Garrus she absentmindedly answered the call. “I’m going to have a feast fit for kings, if I have the energy to finish this.”

“Was your day with Dad really that rough?” Garrus chuckled.

The woman glanced up at the view screen to see her boyfriend smiling, then returned her eyes to her crepes to flip. “I don’t know if I said something wrong or not, but he ditched me at the docking bay fifteen minutes after you cleared our field of vision.” 

She was distracting her mind from the situation with her hands, Garrus realized. He watched her make this dish before. It was complicated for her, because of her tendency to forget about what she was doing and let her food burn. “What happened?” He asked, careful to avoid placing blame on his girlfriend with incorrect phrasing. 

Her gaze returned to the screen again. Her mouth hung ajar, showing her bottom row of teeth, before she bit her lip and swallowed. “He asked about kids. I told him my crew is my family.”

“Okay?” Garrus asked. That conversation wouldn’t have lasted fifteen minutes with how up-front and blunt Cheska was with her wording.

“Then I said nothing was planned ‘cus I told you not to line everything up…”

She felt guilty. That was why she seemed drained of personality.

Cheska was cutting up chicken and finishing up her white sauce. Then she glanced back up at the screen. “I don’t get what I did wrong. Didn’t say anything, just left.”

“He probably went to celebrate his free time with some beers, but I’ll ask Solana to check up on him and see what’s going on, hun.” Oh, he really liked using that word. Hun. Human pet names were fun, he wouldn’t say it like that. But they were very enjoyable. Cute even.

Shepard’s gaze was back at her handiwork. “I feel like I did something or said something, and I mean, it’s not really a big deal. I guess I just wasn’t expecting such a reaction like that,” she muttered. Then she pivoted to wash her hands in the sink. “And part of me even planned for this happening, but here I am. Moping.”

There was a pause as Garrus watched his girlfriend carefully prepare her meal and future leftovers. Maybe there were a few turian recipes that required as much attention as her crepes, but he wasn’t much of a chef. So they were unknown to him. “Shepard?” Asked Garrus. The smile on his face faded as his girlfriend remained quiet. “Is there something else?”

“I’m not upset with him, Garrus. Please, don’t be mad at your father. The last thing I want to do is complicate things, we’re all recovering from war and near-total annihilation,” Cheska muttered as she placed one pan in the oven and went to prep the second pan. After setting the timer, she returned her eyes to the vid screen. “I’m probably just upset, because he’s a _dad_ figure, you know?”

“Because of Admiral-”

“Because of Dadvid. Fuck! Dad. David. Anderson.” She clenched her jaw and squeezed her eyes shut. “Dammit, yes. That one. Fuck.”

The call dropped.

Garrus panicked and frantically made to call Cheska back. It took a few minutes before she finally answered. Her left hand was red, practically glowing against her dull skin. “You punched a wall, didn’t you?” He didn’t even need to ask, but here he was. Asking anyway.

Shepard nodded. Grabbing an ice pack from the freezer would have been easier for her if she hadn’t tried to definitely open it with her foot. But there she was. Attempting anyway. The woman, who wasn’t tall enough to reach the top shelf, found that her foot was never destined to open a door so high. There was a thud as Cheska fell back onto her ass. “I’m fine,” she lied.

The two wound up laughing it off.

Garrus updated her on the Palaven work schedule for the remainder of his stay there. Solana would be staying a week longer than him, but that was to be expected due to her climb in rank. It wasn’t that he was demoted, it simply was that his position as Reaper Specialist meant less now than it did during war-time.

In the morning, Shepard woke. Brushing her teeth and her hair never took long. It was finding clothes for the day that took up more of her time. Workout sweatpants and a tank top worked just fine and if she was still cold after lunch, Cheska decided she would put on a zip-up sweatshirt.

Spinach quiche never tasted better, she decided while eating breakfast.

There was nothing new on the news other than a few construction updates. Fortunately, there were less reports of raiders, at least for the time being. She turned off the TV and rinsed her dishes before placing them in the dishwasher. 

The apartments were filling up faster than she had anticipated, and a few of them had decorated doors with pictures or flowers. Most, like her own door, lacked decoration. Cheska took the elevator down to the lobby. Then she walked to the market.

Because of its artificial lighting, the Citadel was always bustling and busy with people. She ordered a gift for Jacob, because he had a child on the way. The baby shower was a few weeks away, but Cheska wasn’t going anyway. It was back on Earth.

It was not that she did not want to go. It was that people on Earth did not respect personal space the same way people on the Citadel did. Half of her wanted to live on the Sur’Kesh. Salarians were too busy to waste more than a few moments being nosey. They would watch from time to time, but never outright disrupt. They were curious researchers, not ill-mannered children.

It wasn’t worth mentioning she wanted to know if an old flame was still alive. Not because she was interested in dating, she had Garrus for fuck’s sake. But out of concern. Also, every moment was enjoyable, as she was always learning around Salarians too.

She made it three days in a similar fashion before Talus showed up at her door in the middle of her sleep cycle. It set off her alarm, ringing around the whole apartment. It would have been silenced sooner if her omni-tool wasn’t so bright in the dark. 

Shepard slipped into a lazy day dress and answered the door. Her hair was a mess and she could barely open her eyes, but she made it to the door triumphantly. “Are you alright?” The woman asked, doing her best to sound as concerned as she was.

“I can come back later,” Talus said, then turned around.

“I’m already awake, man, come in and tell me what’s going on,” Shepard replied bluntly. He sat down in the living room on the couch. Nothing could cover up his discomfort aside from a culture barrier, and thanks to Garrus not doing a great job at being a turian, Shepard had no idea how to read him. “I don’t think I have any dextro-friendly food, sorry…” She muttered while rummaging through the fridge.

Talus shook his head. “That’s alright, Commander.”

Shepard had barely woken up further than being able to open her eyes halfway. But she turned on the ball of her foot and stared him down. Even if he was a bit blurry with her sleep vision, she noticed his posture was rigid. “Listen, Dad in Law, I have a name, and you know it. Not my last name, my first name. Use it,” she said sternly while pointing at him with a fork she dug out from one of the drawers.

The turian let out a breath he did not realize he was holding as she turned back around to blindly rummage through the fridge.

Once she joined him on the couch, she had a warmed up crepe on her plate. “So, what’s goin’ on?” Cheska awkwardly asked before stuffing her face with a bite that was too big for her mouth.

Talus said nothing.

“Right,” Cheska replied. After three gracious bites, she had finished her midnight snack. “Well, that was good and enjoyable and I _think_ I’m awake now. So you seem tense.”

“Yes,” Talus responded.

Shepard closed her eyes then turned to face him. Her social skills were better during the daytime, but that didn’t mean they weren’t still jack shit and lacking in every way other than politically. But Talus didn’t come to her apartment at God knows what hour to debate the genophage. Her skills were useless here.

Still, it made sense.

Nothing but danger would come from trying to pry a better answer from him. So she settled for something less threatening. “I have a high score to beat at the Armax Arena,” Cheska informed him, knowing full well that guns were the best way to calm nerves.

“That sounds a lot better than what I had in mind,” Talus admitted.

In the arena, Shepard was quick to realize that Garrus did not get his sniper skills from his father. Talus realized that being small was probably how the commander had survived all these years. Well, all but two of them. He decided not to voice that comment as he spotted her during their warm up session.

They both had pistols and only pistols. That was part of the challenge for the match. Granted, Shepard’s drones and turret made Talus feel like they were cheating. Perhaps that was another reason she had survived for so long.

He watched as she spun and ducked behind cover to reload. In battle, he could see why his son respected the Spectre. Not that he was very happy about the fact, but at least Talus was beginning to understand why his son was so quick to quit C-Sec to board a human ship.

At the end of the match, Talus found credits were transferred to his account. It never occurred to him that people were watching for their enjoyment. Part of him wondered if this was how Shepard funded so many projects for her homeworld.

She had fan mail, requests, and an enormous fan base. Not that he was surprised, considering this was the savior of the galaxy. Talus watched the woman respond to a few fan letters as she removed her gear back in the locker room. If he were a human, he might feel like he was invading her privacy, but the red marks left by her armor was not something he had seen before. 

“It’s called chaffing, Talus, and it’s because I didn’t wear clothes with more coverage under my armor,” she explained, now only in a sports bra and shorts. Cheska turned and retrieved her dress from her locker. She held up her arms and slipped into it in one easy motion.

They headed into the interview room together, though Talus stayed in full armor. Part of Cheska wondered if he even had a pair of civies. 

In the interview room a “sports” reporter asked who Talus was. Shepard, who was about to fall back asleep, tiredly replied, “Talus Vakarian: Dad in Law. Pchoo Pchoo.” Complete with gun fingers to fit with her sound effects.

He stepped forward. “C-Sec officer.”

“See, Dad in Law,” Shepard said, her eyelids not wanting to open. Instead of shooting her gun fingers again, she pointed one to the sky and blew as if the tips of her fingers were a smoking gun. “Professional.”

Solana’s rant about Shepard’s questionable personality popped into Talus’s mind. Something similar had probably happened to her. But Garrus, oddly enough, never made a comment about Shepard’s odd mannerisms, when in fact he should have experienced the most of them while serving under her. After all, he said she hardly slept during the Reaper War.

Talus ended the interview early and opted to escort the woman home. He made a mental note to thank her for the shooting session later. For now, making sure she made it safely to bed was priority.

Every few days Talus would find Cheska at her apartment or in the Commons and they would go shooting again. It became his favorite way to pass time when he wasn’t at work. The matches also made his bank account very happy.

Finally, Shepard visited the Vakarian apartment. They took a cab to the docking bay together and waited in silence for Solana and Garrus to return. During the two week absence of Talus’s children, he never said much. The commander felt it wasn’t her place to ask. Somehow, she felt closer to understanding her boyfriend’s father though. The feeling was hard to pinpoint and more difficult to name.

When their shuttle came into view, Cheska stood cautiously. She was hesitant. Part of her thought, maybe she was being hopeful, maybe she heard the announcement wrong over the intercom.

As turians and a few other races left the large craft, her worry wavered. Solana entered the terminal first, her brother followed close behind her.

Shepard ran and jumped onto Garrus, hanging herself around his neck and kissing his face. “I missed you a lot!” She admitted. Once he returned her kiss, she loosened her grip around him and slid down till her feet touched the floor. “How was Palaven?” 

They walked away from the port entrance to join Solana and Talus out of the flow of traffic.

“It’s doing a lot better. I didn’t realize Tali requested help from the geth until they landed near the refugee holding area,” Garrus admitted. He wasn’t one of the builders, or one of the set time developers. In all reality, he was mostly helping plan for funding and setting up possible time charts with a few architects. 

When the Geth dropped in, quite literally as the fell from the sky, Garrus was able to transfer a few possible plans to them. As Tali had said during the Reaper War, they were fast to shrink time tables from a century to a few decades. It was a huge and unexpected relief.

His girlfriend smiled up at him, giddy as a kid in a candy store. She wasn’t going to mention that she talked to Tali about it as a favor for Primarch Victus. Geth had their own AI software now, and were gaining individuality, but Cheska found it was easiest to talk to quarians as they learned how to coexist again. Also, Tali was an ambassador, so she had her own office on the Citadel and Shepard had no geth contacts.

“I take it things went well with Dad,” Garrus said, watching the human practically bouncing with excitement. After the first night away, Shepard didn’t call much. It was less of a worry than constant contact, and he had more time to sleep that way. 

Still, he missed his girlfriend, not that he would admit it in front of his family. Of course Solana knew, but how could she not after spending two weeks with him, watching him pace around the room after that first vid call.

She nodded, still grinning from ear to ear. “Took him to Armax Arena. I’ll admit, I sound very drunk in my first interview with him. But, he made sure not to wake me up after that,” she assured him.

“You went shooting in the middle of the night?” Garrus asked in disbelief.

Shepard nodded, sticking her tongue out. She was either wetting her lips or making a joke out of the situation. Garrus was not quite sure. “It was a lot of fun. Though, I’m starting to wonder where you got your sharpshooting skills,” Cheska joked, winking at him.

Garrus put an arm around his girlfriend’s waist and walked with her to his father and sister.

“I’m kind of jealous, Cheska, you took Dad to Armax Arena before your own sister?” Solana laughed.

Cheska was smiling and both his sister and father seemed happy and relaxed. “I’ll have to admit, if you start taking everyone I’m not going to feel so special anymore,” Garrus chuckled, doing his best to join in the conversation. The arm around his waist tugged him closer and he knew he was doing something right.

“I missed you too, hun.”

**Author's Note:**

> I spent the last few days drawing Zarya from Overwatch as my wife and posted the pictures to Twitter. I wrote the majority of this a week ago and almost burned out on Mass Effect. The break was worthwhile, but the election and N7 day brought me back. It's a touch late, but I hope some comfort fic helps.
> 
> If all goes well I'll be moving back to Ohio soon.


End file.
